


Nuker's Symphogear Prompt Compilation

by ObssesedNuker



Category: Senki Zesshou Symphogear
Genre: Some of these might become stories later, Who Knows?, prompts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-01
Updated: 2021-01-19
Packaged: 2021-03-11 05:15:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 14,330
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28489674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObssesedNuker/pseuds/ObssesedNuker
Summary: A variety of (SFW) one-shot prompts done for the r/Symphogear discord by user ObssesedNuker.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 17





	1. Outer Space

He ran, the sound of music and the haunting, alien lyrics behind him spurring him on as much as the screams and gunfire. Fear gripped at his heart. He had to do it, had to free the alien before it was too late. Before they all died. They wouldn’t stop with just this base unless he could prove to them otherwise, prove that this was just a misunderstanding.

Soldiers ran past him in the opposite direction, weapons clutched in their hands. The idiots, the stupid morons! As if they could be stopped. They weren’t evil, he knew. Despite the fears of the military, they weren’t invading. They just wanted to save one of their own.

So he ran, the strange music fading into the distance behind him and the explosions and gunfire growing distant. He ran down massive, twisting corridors with a single-minded determination, knowing that the army could only distract them for so long.

Skidding around a corner, he saw a pair of soldiers standing on either side of the door. Nervous at the distant sounds of explosions and gunfire, their weapons shot up at his appearance for a moment before they relaxed slightly. He quickly ran up and started punching in numbers on the keypad.

“What are you doing?” The one on his left asked in surprise. “The general has ordered nobody past here.”

“The general is dead!” He spat back.

“That may be.” The soldier replied. “But nobody has countermanded his orders.”

“Idiots!” He snapped, motioning behind him. “The other aliens are coming! They’ll kill us all if we don’t release it.”

“Back off.” The soldier on his right said, aiming his gun.

“They’re coming here!” He practically shouted back. “If you are going to shoot me, then go ahead: whether I stop or not, I’m dead either way.”

He glared at the soldier, who stared back, fear and uncertainty written all over him. He leaned to the side, glancing over at his comrade. Then, mercifully, he lowered his weapon. “Hurry up then.”

Relief flashed through him as he finished punching in the keycode. The massive, titanium-reinforced door hissed open and he scurried into the aliens cell.

The alien took a moment to recognize him, he knew. Their two large eyes with blue circles in them widened in what he now knew was fear momentarily, before recognition set in and they softened. He couldn’t blame them for not recognizing him. The aliens were so different from them that it could be hard for a non-specialist like himself to tell them apart and he imagined it must be the same for them. And yet, he briefly mused, they were so much alike on the inside.

They spoke in that incomprehensible language of theirs, the ones they had tried and failed again and again to decipher. But he shivered slightly with happiness as he recognized… well, it  _ almost _ sounded like his name, but the alien found it just as difficult to copy their language as they did theirs, so it came out as a complete jumbled mess. He supposed it was saying hello to him.

“Hello to you too.” He replied, then tried his own hand at pronouncing what they knew to be the alien’s own name. Given the way the hairless skin around their mouth pulled back, he figured he had amused them by butchering their name as horribly as they did his.

He took a moment to examine the alien to make sure they were not harmed. Like mammals from his own planet, the alien’s exterior was covered by skin, yet it’s coat was surprisingly thin compared to any mammals he had studied. The most obvious exception was the large mat of much longer black fur cascaded out of it’s head. They suspected that was the reason they preferred to wear the garments whenever it could, a means to keep itself warm.

Seeing that they didn’t bear any scars, he scurried forward towards them, the door hissing shut again behind him automatically. The alien had sat down for the moment, resting the bottom of their long lower section on the floor, their two legs curled up against them. The interesting position brought their upper-section about to his height.

“Your fellows are coming for you.” He said. Despite the lack of understanding, he knew the noise was coming closer. “I have to get the restraining bolt off of you.”

The way they tipped the small upper section of their body let him know they were confused by his approach momentarily. But their eyes widened and their mouth fell open as he grabbed the circular restraining bolt, fastened around the connecting section between their body and head. He paused to see what they would do next, if that was some kind of fear response, but when they didn’t react, he continued.

This was the tricky part: he didn’t know the combination. Fortunately, he knew some tricks to figure it out. The problem was they took time and all the while, the sound of battle started to grow louder.

The alien noticed, shifting in his grip although he was uncertain whether that was discomfort or fear.

“Don’t worry, be patient.” He tried to mutter reassuringly. The problem was, of course, the alien couldn’t understand him.

Then he froze as a new sound quickly reached his receptors. A strange, discordant sound accompanied with alien lyrics that chilled his heart.

_ “Hontō no imi wo shiru tame ni,  
_ _ Tabiji wa tsudzuku kaze wa se wo osu!” _

But the alien seemed to straighten at the sound instead, baring its teeth widely in what he knew was happiness as they uttered a single, incomprehensible line: “Hibiki.”

Then the screaming outside started. There was a long ripple of automatic gunfire that abruptly cut out. But the music remained. Frantically still trying the combinations, he turned towards the door only just enough to bring it into sight.

He did so just in time to see the door smash off it’s hinges, flung clear across the room. The captive alien yelped in response and he froze, terrified of what would come through the door.

Standing fully upright in was the preeminent alien. The one among the invaders that had approached them first. The one that had been fired on first. Like the captured alien, it had hair atop it’s head, but instead of it being black like the captive, it was a very light brown. They wore a single thin garment covered in strange machinery of orange, yellow, and white that he knew was all part of the strange, incomprehensible armored system the aliens used as an invincible weapon they had found no way through.

Their eyes, featuring an outer circle as yellow as that on their armor, locked straight onto him, frozen in fear with his tendrils on the captured alien’s restraining collar. And like the captured one, they shouted what sounded like a single word. “ _ Miku _ !”

The aliens raised and pulled back the equivalent to his own tendrils, the five separations at the end of their hands wrapped together. The strange machinery built over the center of it’s tendril whirred as it leapt forward with a speed he couldn’t possibly try to dodge. He only had enough time to screech in terror.

“Hibiki!  **_Yameru_ ** !” The captured alien shouted, their voice cutting through both his own whine and the alien song, which abruptly came to a halt along with the attacking aliens' tendrils, just a wisp away from plunging down into his upper body. He could see the green, goopy blood of his fellows covering the separations.

The yellow alien had turned to the captive one… mentally, he adjusted the latter’s name to ‘the black alien’. They exchanged a rapid fire conversation, alien words flying back and forth before the yellow alien finally seemed to relax, withdrawing their tentacle.

Realizing he wasn’t about to die, he hurriedly went back to work. He had already made considerable progress, so it didn’t take more than ten seconds before there was a click and the restraining bolt fell away.

Almost as soon as it did, the black alien stunned him by springing to their feet, leaping forward to wrap her tendrils around the yellow. He scurried back in surprise then watched in interest as the two aliens were wrapped together, their mouths pressed up against each other. Some kind of greeting between their kind?

There were several more shouts in that alien language from the doorway, breaking the two aliens apart. There, standing in the shattered entrance, were five more aliens, each clad in their own armor and each carrying some kind of weapon in their tendrils. He noted the array of color: blue, red, green, pink, and silver.

It was only then he realized that the sounds of battle had stopped. So, they must have crushed all resistance then before coming here, for their own.

They crowded around the black alien. Distantly, he noticed that the black alien didn’t do the same thing with any of them as it had done with the yellow alien. So it wasn’t a standard greeting between them? What made the yellow alien different from the other ones?

Well, besides the obvious. He marveled at the different sizes, head-hairs, and eye color yet also the similar body shapes. So many similarities, so many differences.

The alien clad in pink armor noticed him first, shouting a warning as two balls appeared in its hands. He froze as fear rose up again: he had seen exactly what those balls could do when their string was extended. The others likewise whirled around, bringing their weapons to bear.

But a shout from both the yellow and black aliens stymied them. Another exchange took place, the five aliens conversing with the other two. The group seemed to reach some kind of conclusion and then the black alien strode forward right up to him. Their height when fully standing meant he had to tilt himself back to see their face.

Then he froze once again as the black alien extended their tendril forward. Had he been wrong? Were they still angry with all their captors? Were they about to plunge their tendrils into him, like the yellow one had been intending to do?

Instead, the black alien just gently laid the end of their tendril upon the top of the carapace of his upper-face, the separations splaying across it, and moved them in a circular motion. “Arigato.”

And in spite of the language barrier, in spite of his inability to truly understand the expression on their face he thought he caught a sense of… gratitude?

Then they turned and walked back to their… mate? And maybe their own and their mates' friends? But were they different sexes? He couldn’t see any physiological differences between any two of them compared to the black one, unless the head-hair and/or size was it, so maybe they were a single-sex species. But that didn’t make any sense, all the mammalian animals he knew of on the planet had two sexes…

His fearful musing on the subject was interrupted as the blue alien produced a purple glass shard and threw it on the ground, a color of light exploding around the seven aliens' feet. The black alien lifted their tentacle and moved it from side-to-side. And then they were gone, more of that incomprehensible technology of theirs. Like those of their weapons.

His six legs gave out under him, bringing his body to the floor. In spite of the wave of exhaustion, he felt the relief at the aliens' disappearance and the sudden quiet. It was over.


	2. Lovemaker

Two voices rang out together over the battlefield. Celtic bagpipes mixed together with the beats of dubstep as two voices rang out in song. A song of happiness, of realized feelings, of love. A beautiful, heartwarming unison as yellow and purple tore through the alchemical agents of despair with fist and laser.

“I never expected them to be this good!” Tsubasa marvelled as she watched Hibiki and Miku rip through the simulated Alca-Noise. “A unison between Kohinata and Tachibana… it certainly is something to behold.”

Chris glanced at the phonic gain levels and smirked before looking over at her two kouhais. “Heh, looks like you two kids have some competition.”

“They haven’t beat us yet.” Shirabe replied evenly.

Kirika nodded her head eagerly. “The Blades of Zababa can’t lose!”

“I think they’re right.” Fujitaka muttered, his eyes glued to the read outs in front of her. “Hibiki and Miku-san may be perfectly in tune, but their relics aren’t. It is still an artificial unison.”

“It’s going to be a close second though.” Tomosato pointed out. “Certainly well and above any other combinations.”

Within the simulation, Hibiki crushed the last of the humanoid Alca-Noises head, the creature exploding into red mist. She shot Miku a loving smile at a lull in the song and received one in turn from her sunshine, but then with a roar a massive Hydra Alca-Noise burst through a nearby office building. It’s mouth opened and an alchemical liquid poured down, washing through the street to create a fresh wave of Alca-Noise.

Hibiki didn’t even look away from Miku at first. Their smiles just shifted from loving to confident as their song resumed and only then did they turn to their new opponents. Clasping their hands together as they sang, the two shot up with Miku’s flight modules and Hibiki’s powerjacks. At their apex together, they separated, Hibiki shooting forward while Miku held out her hand and fully unfurled Shenshoujing. Throwing the mirror like a frisbee, it seemed to replicate itself, forming a solid line.

The resulting purple barrage of lasers was matched by Hibiki’s own yellow blur as she punched and smashed through this wave of Alca-Noise, sweeping first left and then right. The wind rushed through her hair as she weaved around Miku’s blasts with uncanny ease. Truly, she knew her sunshine.

And as the last of the minions disintegrated to one of Miku’s blasts, Hibiki leapt back up alongside her. With one hand, Miku grabbed her girlfriend while raising her other, releasing Shenshoujing’s miscellaneous mirrors into a circular array around her. Hibiki pulled her hand, her gauntlet’s mechanisms spinning and whirring as purple beams shot from the mirrors to form an incandescent ball of energy in front of the two. The Alca-Noise Hydra lifted it’s heads and together they roared, firing their own bursts of that alchemical liquid in a surging torrent towards the two wielders.

Miku and Hibiki shouted the final lines of their song together as the former swept her hand forward and the latter punched right into the surging energy ball, adding the strike of Gungnir to the purifying light of Shenshoujing. With a  **_Reverberation Under the Sun_ ** , the energy thundered forward. The jet of alchemical liquid simply vaporized under the light and the Alca-Noise Hydra released one piercing cry before the beam of light consumed it, the whole thing vanishing in a rolling sea of purple.

When the light finally faded, there wasn’t the slightest sign of it.

“Aw, man.” Chris slapped her forehead. “Make a joke of our prior efforts, why don’tcha?”

“Impressive.” Maria said, a smile on her face, “I wasn’t expecting them to just take it out all at once like that.”

Genjuro laughed heartily. “Well, I think that’s more than enough proof that Hibiki and Miku-kun don’t need any additional unison training! Elfnein-kun, you can end the simulation now.” A few seconds of silence passed and nothing happened up on the screen as Hibiki and Miku floated back down to the simulated city street.

The smile vanished from the SONG commanders face as he looked down at the blonde alchemist. “Elfnein-kun?”

“Ah!” Elfnein started. “Sorry! I thought I saw something with… no, it must have been nothing. Shutting down now.”

Miku and Hibiki smiled again at each other as the simulation faded away, releasing their transformations and threading their hands into each other’s hands. They didn’t say anything for the moment, they didn’t need to. The experience of each other’s hearts being unified was more than enough.

Then they were torn from their reverie at a bawling from behind them. Quickly turning around, the two looked down at the source of the crying and their eyes widened in shock. Up in the bridge, Chris’ mouth fell open. “What the hell?!”

“Is that…” Kirika wondered.

Tsubasa’s head tilted as she frowned. “Where did that baby come from?”

—

Everyone looked up as Elfnein exited the medical clinic, the baby girl now swaddled in cloth resting in her arms. “I’ve given her a check-up. She’s a healthy newborn baby girl. Only a few days old at most.” She turned to Miku and held her out. “Miku-san, if you could?”

“Um…” Miku blinked. “Of course.” Gently, she accepted the baby into her arms and looked down at her. Hibiki silently glanced down from next to her as well. As Miku shifted her arms a little bit, the infant stirred awake. A pair of wide, orange eyes peered up curiously at Miku and Hibiki, a small mat of greenish-black hair laying atop her head. The child stared up at them before it giggling and gurgling happily.

“Aw, Miku… she's so cute!” Hibiki gushed, her smile widening. “Aren’t you just the cutest?” She lowered a wriggling finger right down in front of the child. “Yes you are! Yes you are!”

The baby giggled even louder, it’s own little hands trying to grasp Hibiki's finger. Miku couldn’t help but giggle a little herself. There was just something about watching Hibiki play with this child that felt so soothing.

Chris finally felt the need to clear her throat from across the waiting room. “Alright idiot. Hold yourself together. Yeah, she’s cute. But she’s somebody’s child whose missing.”

“Umm-” Elfnein quietly started, but was swiftly cut-off.

“I don’t understand though.” Tsubasa said. “How did a newborn get into the middle of the simulation room without us noticing?”

“Well-”

“Teleporting babynappers!” Kirika immediately leapt to the most obvious conclusion. “They come and go as they please!”

“Kiri-chan, be serious.” Shirabe chided.

Fortunately, Maria was actually paying attention. “Go ahead, Elfnein.”

Everybody looked at the pinkette and then over to Elfnein, who nodded gratefully back to Maria. “Thank you, Maria-san. Like I was trying to say, I ran a DNA test on the baby and the results were umm...” The blonde alchemist shuffled awkwardly, glancing quickly at Hibiki and Miku as her face slowly heated up. “I… guess I should congratulate you?”

“Eh?” Hibiki said, as Miku also tilted her head in confusion.

“Well… you see… she’s your baby. Miku and Hibiki-san’s child.” Unable to handle her embarrassment any more, Elfnein quickly looked away. “The results match exactly. With one-hundred percent confidence.”

Dead silence hung over the room at that, the only noise being the incoherent bubbling of the baby. Hibiki’s mouth fell open, totally slack-jawed as Miku’s eyes looked like she was about to pop out of her heads. Chris’ face had gone totally blank while Tsubasa’s own quizzical expression seemed frozen on her face. Both Kirika and Shirabe had identical looks of incomprehension, seemingly not having processed what Elfnein just said. And Maria staggered, sitting down as she brought her hand to her forehead.

“ **_WHAT?!_ ** ” Chris exploded. Tsubasa toppled forward out of her chair, fainting dead away, eliciting a cry from Maria. Kirika and Shirabe looked at the baby, then each other, then the baby. But Miku and Hibiki simply remained where they were, how they were. Their baby in Miku’s hands had shifted away from happiness and was now cooing in confusion at her mothers impersonation of an ice sculpture.

“Congratulations?” Elfnein squeaked.


	3. Hokkaido, 1945

**_September 1940:_ ** _Professor Ryouko Sakurai makes an astonishing breakthrough that could change the course of the looming war. However, Japan lacks the industrial resources to exploit it and infighting between the IJA and IJN prevents appropriate diplomatic overtures being made to the one country which has both the will and technical-industrial resources to assist the Japanese. In desperation, Sakurai approaches a subordinate of the German ambassador, Richard Sorge, with a large chunk of the theory. Sorge agrees to pass the information on, but Sakurai never hears anything from him again._

**_November 1940:_ ** _Professor Nastassja Tolstoya is officially “arrested” by the NKVD. In truth, she meets with Joseph Stalin, who provides her with startling information related to the research done by her small university department that plugs massive holes in her own theoretical work. She is then introduced to two orphan sisters retrieved from the gulag: the daughters of a family of deported Kulaks, Maria and Serena Cadenzavna Eve._

**_June 22nd-July 8th 1941:_ ** _Germany invades the Soviet Union in a surprise attack. Unprepared Red Army forces are either shattered, encircled, or routed in disarray. After recovering from the shock, Stalin orders maximum national mobilization, a reform of the Red Army, and the immediate field deployment of the recently completed Project Tchaikovsky._

**_July 8th-July 31st 1941:_ ** _The Battle of Smolensk ends in a shattering and shocking defeat for Nazi Germany. The armored spearheads of 1st and 2nd Panzer Group, the main offensive force of Army Group Center, are almost totally wiped out attempting encirclements of the Soviet 28th and 16th Armies. Survivors report back that each panzer group was wiped out by a girl, one clad in silver and the other in black, singing as they fought. Army Group Center’s advance stalls along the D’niepr river._

**_August 1941:_ ** _Similarly shattering defeats are inflicted upon Army Group North advancing towards Leningrad and Army Group South in Central Ukraine. Barbarossa collapses. Soviet propaganda begins to crow about the Soviet Union’s secret weapons, “the Silver Arm” and “the Black Cape”. The wielders of these weapons, two sisters, appear in newsreel footage and are heralded as “exemplars of the New Soviet Women”._

**_1941-1943:_ ** _It’s offensive striking power smashed, the Germans are driven relentlessly back by the growing power of the Red Army. Each offensive is larger, better equipped, better led, and better trained. But one commonality is that their breakthroughs are all spearheaded by either the Soviets “Silver Arm” or the “Black Cape”, whose deployment Germany has no counter. The Germans are driven back over Barbarossa’s start lines by the winter of 1942/43. Poland and the Balkans are overrun by the Spring of ‘43._

**_May 1943:_ ** _With Soviet armies driving on Berlin, the Western Allies hastily execute Operation Roundup, establishing a tenuous foothold in France._

**_June 1943:_ ** _Berlin falls. The photograph of the two sisters Maria and Serena Eve watching the hammer and sickle be raised over the Reichstag is flashed worldwide. The Soviet Union declares war on Japan and begins driving it from mainland Asia. Anglo-American intelligence picks up disturbing Soviet troop movements on the border of British-occuppied Iran._

**_July 1943:_ ** _Soviet and Anglo-American troops meet on the Rhine. To the Western Allies astonishment, the Red Army immediately attacks them, the massive, well-equipped, and battle-hardened forces, spearheaded by the “Silver Arm”, overrun the smaller Anglo-American expeditionary forces. A day later, Soviet forces spearheaded by the “Black Cape” cross into the British occupation zone of Iran and begin driving for the Suez canal._

**_Late-1943:_ ** _Soviet forces overrun Western and Southern Europe and Anglo-French territories in the Middle East. Japanese forces are cleared from mainland East Asia. Battles rage in Egypt around the Suez. Civil War in China reignites, Communist forces allying with the Soviet Union who quickly drive the nationalist armies back._

**_1943-1945:_ ** _The World War reaches a stalemate. The strength of the Red Army on the Eurasian landmass and the potential of their two supergirls is now offset by Anglo-American naval superiority. Fierce but inconclusive battles rage over Egypt and the British Channel. Pro-Communist insurgencies, promised independence by Stalin, tie down the colonial armies in India. Soviet and Chinese Communist forces steadily drive the nationalists south, threatening Southeast Asia. In the Pacific, however, Japan faces an increasingly desperate situation as her navy and air force are destroyed by the Western Allies, opening up the possibility of a Soviet invasion of the home islands from the north or east._

**_June 1945:_ ** _With intelligence informing them that a Soviet assault on Hokkaido is imminent, Japan surrenders to the Western Allies. As the first Allied forces land on Honshu, they are swiftly approached by Ryouko Sakurai with an important proposal._

**_July 1945:_ **

Rumoi was a sleepy port town located on the eastern coast of Hokkaido. It’s modestly sized harbor had used to receive goods from Japanese-controlled Korea, until the Soviets had kicked them out. Even fishing traffic had been shut down during 1944, due to Soviet submarines and American strategic bombers laying mines. Rumoi’s defenses were poor: a lone coastal defense point some kilometers to the north with a battalion-sized garrison constituted the strongest force in the region. The main strength of Japanese defences on Hokkaido were concentrated around Wakkanai, along the islands northern shore facing Sakhalin and the Kurils, where the invasion was expected to come. The impression had been reinforced by the construction of airfields in the Kurils and massing of troop formations in Sakhalin, both captured during the latter part of 1943. With the anticipated arrival of the Americans, plans had been made to reinforce the east coast’s defenses, but those reinforcements were still weeks away.

Unfortunately for the Japanese, the preparations on the Kuril’s had been a fake out, a classic Soviet _maskirovka_.

The Li-2 was a copy of the American DC-3 transport, a manufacturing license obtained in 1939. After relatively limited runs, production had increased since 1943 in anticipation of an invasion of Britain. The ongoing air battle over there meant that invasion was on an indefinite hold, the Li-2 too vulnerable to be deployed in contested skies, but a window of opportunity for its use over Japan had been recognized. And as the sun rose over the port of Rumoi, they filled the sky in their hundreds. Yakovlev, Lavochkin, and MiG fighters flitted around them in escort, while lower down packs of Sturmovik attack aircraft hunted the surrounding countryside for potential troop movements. The lone coastal defense point was subjected to an endless torrent of explosives from Tupolev and Petlyakov medium bombers. Parachutes appeared over the city and its surroundings as the Guards Airborne Divisions began their landing.

For Maria Cadenzavna Eve, her most fervent wish at the moment was that they had made the seats in the Li-2 she was currently sitting in more comfortable. Her “team”, which really consisted of her and the squad of NKVD submachine gunner “minders” carrying her back-up LiNKER supply, were the only ones in the passenger compartment. In reality, she was the main combatant in the aircraft and its most important cargo.

Her thoughts right now were on Mom and Serena. Them getting split up like this again didn’t seem like a coincidence. Her meetings with Comrade Stalin had been relatively brief press events and while he had seemed grandfatherly enough when talking, Maria could not fail to notice the way he watched and listened to everyone. How she could practically feel the constant activity behind his lively and impish yellow eyes. A far cry from the monologing figure of the Hitlerites beloved Fuhrer she had dragged out of his wrecked bunker… and yet, if she was being honest, still similar in so many ways. Two monsters of different stripes. The only thing she could honestly say for Stalin is that the Gulag wasn’t a patch on Auschwitz.

So she didn’t do it for Stalin. She did it for her sister, for Nastassja… and Nastassja did it for Russia. Maria suspected Stalin knew that. Why else would he force her away from Serena, on the other end of Eurasia, to participate in what was a strategically useful but not really essential operation? Was her loyalty being questioned?

Maria was pulled from her thoughts by the NKVD captain crouching by the door. “Comrade Colonel!” He shouted over the roar of the twin engines. “We are coming up on the drop zone!”

“Very well!” Maria shouted back, coming to her feet and walking towards the open door. She could see the other Li-2s in the formation, parachutes falling from out their sides. She stopped by the door and turned to the other personnel. She was the only one who did not have a parachute. She didn’t need it. “For the motherland, comrades! Ura!”

“URA!” The submachine gunners chorused back, coming to their feet to line up behind the pinkette.

Maria turned forward, gripping both sides of the door and looked down, at the coastline splayed out below her. She waited, her heart pounding. “Stay calm.” She muttered to herself, like she always did. “Stay calm.”

“GO!” The captain shouted, and Maria leapt, her hand immediately going to the pendant around her neck. As she plunged for the earth, she sang...

“ _Granzizel bilfen Gungnir zizzl._ ”

The warm glowing light of her Symphogear snapping into place rushing over her, Maria plunged downward like a stone for the seconds it took the transformation to finish. Almost immediately after it completed, she flared out with her Gungnir’s black cape, breaking her fall. She could have used it as a full parachute if she wanted or even summoned her armed gear and flown down, but she settled for just making sure she didn’t land hard enough to damage the defense fields. Glancing up, she saw the parachutes of the rest of her team appearing as they leapt out of the same aircraft she did. They’d be separated for a little bit, which suited Maria just fine. The LiNKER aside, she didn’t really like having her minders watching over her shoulder while she fought.

Maria looked back down and adjusted her cape towards an open grass field along a small river running out to the ocean, about a dozen meters off where she could see other Soviet paratroopers assembling. The location was a kilometer from the vital port. The Guards Airborne troops leapt with startled shouts as she landed, cratering the ground under foot. They spun around, raising their weapons for a moment before they recognized her.

When they did, they immediately dropped their weapons back down and saluted. Maria ignored the looks of awe that swept over their faces. She was well used to the inspiring effect her presence had on allies… and ruthlessly exploited it against her foes. “At ease,” she said, picking out the commanding officer, a lieutenant. “Report,” she commanded.

The Lieutenant stiffened despite his dropped salute. “Comrade Colonel. My platoon is preparing to move on the harbor facilities and is fully at your disposal.”

“Thank you, comrade Lieutenant.” Maria said, turning in the direction of the port and striding forward. The soldiers parted in front of her, much like her mother had once said Moses parted the Red Sea. “I will take point. Have the rest of your platoon cover me.”

She didn’t exactly need the assistance: in Gungnir, Maria was a one-woman army, after all. But she knew from long experience that the morale boost of having the troops feel as if they could fight with her was of great use when they didn’t have her around to assist them. It was one of the parts of the job that she actually enjoyed.

The soldiers fell in behind her, ducking low from cover to cover. Maria eschewed that, striding confidently right down the road towards her objective. Her Gear’s highlights made her stand out and she knew it. So she wasn’t remotely surprised when a machine gun opened up on her the moment the harbor warehouses came into sight.

By the time the Airborne Red Guardsmen had even realized they were under attack, Maria was charging across the road toward the window from which she could see the muzzle flash of the machine gun. Bullets glanced off of her harmlessly. As she closed the distance to the last few dozen meters, her black cape flowed around her. One of the edges shot forward, morphing into a lance that shot right through the window. The Japanese machine gunner’s eyes only had enough time to widen before the lance plunged into him, throwing him across the room. The loader next to him jerked away, but Maria launched herself through the window and smashed his face in with a flying kick.

The rest of the squad within stood no chance and within moments the last of their broken bodies toppled to the floor. Turning away, Maria leapt back out the window and glanced across the road, back towards the paratroopers who were only now poking themselves out of their hiding spots. She placed her hands on her hips and raised an exaggerated eyebrow. “Well, come on Comrades! What are you waiting for? My hairdresser?”

—

“Rumoi!” Chris Yukine shouted as she punched the wall next to her bed. “Dammit, the Old Man was right!”

“He usually is.” Tsubasa Kazanari said quietly. She didn’t yet know what to make of the half-foreign _Nisei_ that she had been introduced to in the past few weeks, since the surrender. The silver-haired girl seemed to her to be rambunctious, impolite, and rude. But at the moment, their feelings were in accord. They had both been brought up to Wakkanai, along with what made them important: the pendants around their necks, these products of Japanese science and American industry.

All that effort... only for it to turn out they had been brought to the wrong place. Genjuro Kazanari had remarked to the Japanese staff officers back down at Sapporo that it was too convenient for the Soviets to land at Wakkanai, but the officers had just shrugged at him. The defence plan assumed a Soviet landing at Wakkanai, so the defence plan is what they went with. The fools.

The thought of her Uncle made Tsubasa consider how much her life had been up-ended in the past month. Her grandfather was under arrest, awaiting a warcrimes trial, and under suicide watch after one attempt to take his own life at his shame in the Emperor’s decision. Her own father was also under arrest, although it was lighter since the Americans couldn’t really figure out how involved he was with her grandfather’s affairs. As the American MPs had taken him away, he had looked at her with sad eyes she had never seen before and said, “Tsubasa, I’m sorry for everything.”

She still didn’t understand what he meant. But the surrender hadn’t fully ended the threat from the Red Army. Japan needed time for the American forces to arrive. Time that now only she could bring. The Americans she had met, unexpectedly, treated her far more kindly then even her own father had, more like her Uncle. But from what Tsubasa had heard, Stalin’s men wouldn’t be remotely as nice.

Tsubasa was torn from her thoughts as the door flew up and her Uncle, Genjuro Kazanari, strode in, followed by Doctor Sakurai. “Tsubasa-kun, Chris-kun.” He began. “Grab your bags, we’re heading down to Rumoi.”

“Fucking finally!” Chris grinned savagely as she grabbed the knapsack she hadn’t even bothered to unpack.

“What’s the situation down there?” Tsubasa asked, her mind already on the battle ahead.

“Grim.” Genjuro said as he strode ahead. “The Russians have the port and it’s sufficient enough to bring in heavy armor. If the Soviets get their tank corps ashore, they can overrun the island in days. We have to retake the port before the cargo ships arrive.” He glanced over his shoulder. “And Maria is there.”

Tsubasa’s eyes widened. Colonel Maria Cadenzavna Eve. Hero of the Soviet Union. The Black Cape.

“Cheh…” Chris scoffed as they stepped out, heading towards the staff car that had been procured. “So what. You said she’s a LiNKER user, right? We’re naturals, and these Gears are more powerful anyways.”

“Don’t be overconfident.” Doctor Sakurai warned them as she got in the car’s driver seat. “Yes, you and your ‘Gears are more powerful, but she has four years of experience behind her.”

“This will be the first battle between Symphogears ever.” Genjuro mused. “A clash of secret weapons.”

“Secret weapons eh?” Chris murmured, her voice thoughtful. “I don’t think we’ll be the only ones in this war.”

“Yukine?” Tsubasa asked in puzzlement. The Ichaival wielder waved a hand.

“Before I flew over here, they brought me to some place out in the desert called Los Alamos where a buncha scientists poked me with various instruments like the doc here has.” Chris placed her hand to her chin in thought. “But I got the impression that the facility there wasn’t actually devoted to Symphogear research. That seemed more tacked on.”

“The Americans are working on another secret weapon?” Sakurai asked, glancing up through the rear view mirror.

“Sounds like it from Chris-kuns description.” Genjuro muttered as he scanned the skies. “And whatever it is, likely the Russians are on it too. Well, it isn’t our immediate-RYOUKO-KUN!”

Chris shrieked like a banshee as Ryouko jerked the wheel at Genjuro’s shout, the car radically drifting across the dirt road. An instant later, bullets and small autocannon shells stitched their way across the section road they had just occupied. The pair of Il-2 Sturmovik attack aircraft roared overhead moments later. Ryouko scowled as they started to bank. “They’re coming around for another pass, and if they use rockets I don’t think I’ll be able to dodge the blast radius.”

“Then I guess it is time for this sword to be unsheathed!” Tsubasa shouted as she kicked her door open, reaching up to grab the car roof as she swung herself up and sang.

_“Imyuteus Ame-no-Habakiri tron.”_

By the time she planted her feet upon the roof, Tsubasa was already fully clad in her Symphogear, her sword in hand. The two Sturmoviks had brought themselves around by now, commencing another attack run. Through her enhanced senses, Tsubasa could pick out the rockets slung under each wing. Fortunately, their straight and level path made them easy targets. Tsubasa swung her sword, releasing an **Azure Flash**. The burst of energy neatly bisected the lead Sturmovik, causing the aircraft to explode mid-air. The other jerked away in surprise and confusion, falling out of his attack run. He began to turn away…

A burst of energy arrows from Tsubasa’s right blew off the last aircraft’s wing. The swordswoman turned as she saw Chris, clad in Ichaival leap up. Her bows switch to the twin multi-barrelled gatling guns of **Billion Maiden**.

“Yukine! I could deal with those two!” Tsubasa shouted over at the red-clad wielder. But Chris cocked an eyebrow and pointed up.

“And what about them?”

Tsubasa followed her finger and realized with a start that those two Sturmoviks weren’t the last ones. Rather, there was a whole squadron of them circling overhead, watching their comrades go after the lone car on the road. As she watched, they banked over and began to close, obviously preparing for their own attack runs.

Tsubasa glanced back at Chris and smiled sheepishly. “I appreciate the assistance.”

Chris snorted as she levelled Billion Maiden. “Yeah, don’t sweat it. Being able to hit back for once feels kinda nice.”

Tsubasa quirked an eyebrow at that, but shook her head, deciding that any questions could wait later. “Very well…” She said as she raised her sword defensively towards the incoming aircraft. “Then on to Rumoi!”


	4. Song of the Stars

Shirabe glanced up as the hum of the ship engine shifted. It was a subtle decline. So subtle, that she almost missed it even with her education. Kirika, of course, never had a chance of noticing it. But she did notice Shirabe’s reaction and perked up quickly, lowering the pad she had been reading.

“Shirabe? What’s the matter?”

“We’ve gone dark.” Shirabe said, straightening up from the workbench where she had been examining the salvaged datachip. It was a simple enough program by pre-Collapse standards, but it made for excellent study material in reverse-engineering the material. Which was probably why Elfnein and Ryouko gave it to her as homework all the time.

At her girlfriend’s answer, Kirika tilted her head a little. Her eyes narrowed in concentration as she listened carefully to the machinery around them before she nodded and threw the datapad down onto her bed. “Yeah, we must be nearing a jump point. Want to head up to the bridge?”

“Mmm.” Shirabe affirmed, quickly tapping at her console to make notes and save her work. “Just give me a moment and… there.”

With that proclamation, she swivelled away from the desk and climbed to her feet to join Kirika. Hand-in-hand, they padded through the hallways towards the  _ Altamaha _ ’s bridge. The occasional crewmate bustled by them, giving them a quick nod of greeting before carrying on with their own duties. As they turned the final corridor up to the bridge, a broad smile broke over Kirika’s face as she spotted the familiar figure standing there. “Chris!”

The silverette gunner turned at the sound of her voice, her posture instantly switching from it’s usual passive-aggressive slouch to a more upright and prideful bearing. Ever since Kirika and Shirabe joined the crew, Chris Yukine always seemed to be looking out for them… although she personally tended to deny it.

“Newbies. Eager?” She asked. The two younger girls nodded enthusiastically and Chris gave a slight smile in response. The motion made the slight-red tint to her right eye flicker, as the implants that connected her to the ship’s weapon systems adjusted. “Well, don’t get too eager. Deep space systems can be-”

“Dangerous.” Shirabe’s interruption caused Chris to start. “We know. We were there three days ago with the system with the pirates, after all.”

Chris opened and closed her mouth a few times, her face heating red as she recovered her bearing. “W-well, just making sure you know!”

Without waiting for their reply, she quickly pressed several buttons on the keypad and the door hissed open. They stepped into the bridge.

Kirika wasn’t sure why they kept the bridge so dark, especially with all the cables running across the floor between various terminals. Her own experience in navigating the deep hives of Sindria with Shirabe meant she was pretty good at avoiding them, but the Eve sisters weren’t so fortunate and Hibiki… well, she seemed to have a knack for stumbling over them. Kirika had been surprised that Tsubasa handled them so well, until she was informed what the ship’s owner had been trained for by her family.

Despite that the person who stood high above all the consoles, looking at a flickering holographic map of the surrounding star cluster, was not Tsubasa. Though she owned the small scavenging fleet, Tsubasa felt uncomfortable with her incomplete Hegemony space training and had decided to bring in her retired uncle to captain the vessel instead. Instead, Tsubasa stood up by Kanade at the helm console, watching with rapt attention as the redhead expertly navigated the vessel through hyperspace. Although neither Kirika nor Shirabe were quite sure whether it was the console she was paying attention too… or Kanade.

Chris gave a curt nod to Genjuro as she broke off from Kirika and Shirabe to take her place at the gunnery station. The duo gave the captain a friendly wave as they moved over to join the rest of the salvage team, receiving a quick greeting smile in return before Genjuro returned his attention to the captain’s console.

“Hey, Hibiki!” Kirika greeted as she fell in alongside her fellow scavengers, waving at Maria to acknowledge the scavenger chief’s own warm smile.

“Yo!” Hibiki said, but her attention was fixated up on the bridge windows. Hibiki was always like this when they dropped into a new system: always eager to be the first one to see it with her naked eyes. Kirika wasn’t sure why she bothered focusing so heavily on the windows though. They always announced beforehand when they were going to go through the jump point and open the enormous armored security shutters, always kept closed in hyperspace in case they passed through a storm.

“Hibiki, look at someone when they’re speaking to you.” Miku lightly chided her girlfriend and teammate from her side, prompting Hibiki to cringe and glance over at Kirika with a sheepishly apologetic smile.

“It’s fine.” Shirabe reassured the two, as a way of accepting the apology. Then she glanced over at the final member of the senior salvage team standing next to Maria, simply listening to the exchange beatifically. Noticing Shirabe’s attention, Serena smiled warmly before she returned her attention to chatting with her big sister. Shirabe had to admit: she was kind of jealous of the Eve sisters tallness. Sure, they may have been about 4 or 6 years her senior, but Serena was barely any smaller than Maria!

Well, I’m glad to see you two have decided to join us!” A new, friendly voice cut in. But it instantly set Kirika on edge, her hand flying up to cover the small red gem at the center of her necklace as the blonde spun around to face the tall, bespectled brunette.

“Ryouko.” Shirabe greeted coolly, sidling up alongside Kirika protectively.

“The answers ‘no’, again.” Kirika said immediately, clutching the piece of jewelry more tightly.

Ryouko blinked, immediately looking disappointed. “But I didn’t even ask…”

“Ryouko!” Elfnein called out from her own station. “Leave those two alone!”

Ryouoko gave a quick pout before turning on her heels and walking away. Kirika sighed in relief and quickly tucked her necklace under her shirt. She had always had the necklace, even when she first woke up in the depths of the Sindrian Hive with amnesia. The only thing she could remember was that it was important.

Ryouko apparently believed it to be some kind of pre-collapse tech and was always hassling Kirika about it, even though Tsubasa had told her point blank she wouldn’t force Kirika to give up something so important. Fortunately, the other member of the science team, Elfnein, never hassled Kirika about it. The young woman seemed to understand, for some reason.

“Probe’s back.” Fujitaka on sensors reported, “No active signatures near the jump point.”

It wasn’t any guarantee that the system was empty, but it did mean there was definitely nobody waiting near the jump point to ambush them. Or at least, nobody close enough to detect them with them running dark.

“Good.” Genjuro said, glancing over at Kanade. “Kanade, take us in.”

“Sure thing boss.” Kanade said, pressing some buttons on the helm. “Entering the jump point in 3… 2… 1…”

The experience of passing between real and hyperspace was different for everyone but it had one commonality: it was weird and almost indescribable. The best way Kirika could put it, in her case at least, was that she could hear purple. Shirabe had once described her own reaction as feeling as if she was spontaneously expanding and getting crushed simultaneously, but not in a painful way. Kirika didn’t get it.

Instinctively, Kirika grabbed the wall and shook her head as reality started to feel real again. She only distantly registered Genjuro announcing that he was opening the shutters and so when she glanced up and stared into the depths of space, her breath caught in her throat. It was a scene she had seen dozens of times by now, but it never failed to entrance her.

A bright yellow orb hung at the center of the system, a beautiful G2 type primary sequence star that undoubtedly would have struck everyone on the bridge blind if not for the filtering properties of the window. A few twinkling pinpricks of light marked the presence of planets, their surface hidden by the combination of reflected light and sheer distance. And everywhere else, the universe was a sea of stars.

Almost instinctively, Kirika began to look for the Askonia system. It was almost a tradition on her and Shirabe’s part. Even if their memories of life on Sindria were mostly negative, even if they had been glad to escape when Maria rescued them and brought them to the ship… it was still where they had met. Where they fell in love.

“We might find a habitable world here.” Tsubasa observed, examining the scene with a more technical eye. “A Class-V survey would bring in some good credits.”

“Rest of the fleet is coming through.” Tomosato on communications said. Pressing a button, she brought up a camera feed pointing behind them. A section of space shimmered into a shifting purple orb that several vessels broke out of moments later.

Looking them over, they were able to pick out the Dram-class antimatter tanker captained by Shiori, the Wayfarer-class combat freighter under Kuriyo, the Shepherd-class drone carrier under Yumi, and the Shade-class phase frigate under Ogawa. Combined with the Mule-class combat freighter that made up the fleet’s flagship, it made for a respectable little scavenger flotilla.

“Have them fall in with us as we begin a routine sweep pattern.” Genjuro ordered. “Anything, Fujitaka?”

“Nothing on sensors yet. The system seems thankfully empty.” Fujitaka said, but no sooner did the words leave his mouth then did he start and wince. “Wait… no, there’s something! It’s dim but…” His fingers dashed across the holographic display.

“I’ve got it! It’s…” The man gaped and winced, “Oh great Ludd!”

“What is it?” Chris asked, her head coming around. “It’s not a bunch of Pathers, is it?!”

“I wish it was.” Fujitaka pressed a button, bringing up the reading and the bridge fell silent.

“Holy…” Elfnein murmured as she stared along with everyone else.

There was no mistaking the origin of the ship on the screen, even if only two of them recognized the specific class. The sleek, rounded curves of light blue metamaterial, armor way beyond the capacity of any faction in the Perseus Sector to make. Or at least any  _ human  _ faction.

“The Remnant…” Hibiki whispered, her eyes fixed on the sight in awe. Next to her, Miku huddled in closer at the words. Shirabe noticed Maria shivered. She didn’t blame the pinkette, her own skin was covered in goosebumps. Even well over a hundred-cycles after they had been officially purged from the sector, the mere name of the artificial intelligence space fleets that had been the bane of mankind since at least the Collapse was enough to strike dread in all who heard them.

The only thing preventing outright terror from breaking out were the clear scars maring the enormous vessel. It was pockmarked with holes, whole bulbous sections burnt out and fused together from energy fire. The engines were dead and a quick check with Fujitaka confirmed that the vessel was showing no signs of life… or unlife, as it were.

“A Radiant-Class Battleship…” Ryouko breathed, her eyes flashing hungrily. “It must be a leftover from one of the AI Wars which drifted into the system.”

“This… this is a huge find!” Elfnein said, her fear giving way to excitement. “A dead Radiant-Class? Think of all the pre-collapse technology that must be aboard. Maybe even an AI-core. It would have to be at least a beta-class… maybe even alpha-class core!” The blonde darted forward towards Tsubasa, grabbing the top of the console between her and the bluenette. “Tsubasa, we can’t pass this up!”

“Indeed.” Tsubasa murmured, her expression becoming more calculating as she stared at the vessel. “We can’t let any technology in there fall into the wrong hands.  **_Especially_ ** not AI-cores.”

“Tsubasa, I’m not sure that’s a good idea.” Genjuro warned. “Even if it’s been blasted, there is no telling what internal defences a Remnant battleship might have.”

“I understand your concerns Uncle.” Tsubasa answered. “But we can’t leave this out in the open for some pirate to find. Any illegal technology we find is better off being returned to the Hegemony.” She turned towards the salvage team, looking at the chief. “Maria? Do you think you all can handle it?”

Maria glanced between the looming, if seemingly dead, AI warship and her boss for a moment, her expression becoming more analytical as she weighed the options. “We have enough heavy equipment and supplies for our powersuits.” She said. “The only unknown is the defence, like the captain said.”

“I see.” Tsubasa glanced back towards the screen for a few moments. “In that case, I will accompany you, to add a bit of extra-firepower.”

Kanade started at that, turning in concern. “Tsubasa, are you-”

“I’ll be fine Kanade.” The bluenette quickly reassured her. “I’m the only one here with a proper set of powered armor.”

“Besides, it’s not like our own power suits are defenceless either!” Hibiki piped up, thumping her chest. “We’ve modified them heavily enough that we can handle any robo-defences this thing might throw at us. I know my Gungnir can tear apart anything! Plus, Chris will have our back, right?” She threw a glance towards the gunner.

“If you stay outside of the hull enough.” Chris retorted, but she threw a reassuring glance towards Kanade. “But yeah… keep us close and I’ll be able to give overwatch for your girl just fine, red.”

Kanade bit her lip, glancing uncertainly again to Tsubasa, before she sighed and smiled brightly. “Alright, give any bots hell, ‘babe.”

“Kanade!” Tsubasa blushed, before dropping her voice down to a whisper. “Not in front of the others…”

Shirabe rolled her eyes and glanced over at Kirika, who had remained oddly silent throughout. The blonde stared up at the screen with one of the strangest expressions Shirabe ever saw her with.

Quietly, Shirabe reached out and nudged her girlfriend’s shoulder. “Kiri?” Kirika started at the sound of her name, her head whipping around in alarm. Shirabe’s worried stare intensified a little. “Are you okay?”

“Um…” Kirika seemed to take a moment to process the question before she laughed and shook her head. “Yeah! Just a bit shocked. I mean, it’s a Remnant ship after all!”

Shirabe looked skeptical but decided to drop it as Maria, Genjuro, and Tsubasa moved closer together to discuss more of the details. The rest of the salvage team were starting to head out of the bridge and they needed to keep up. “Come on, we’ve gotta get our suits on.”

“‘Kay!” Kirika said, falling in behind Shirabe eagerly. But before she stepped through the door, she stopped and threw one last concerned glance at the battleship husk up on the screen. Unconsciously, her hand slid up to the gem on the necklace around her neck.

Why did she feel such a  _ pull  _ towards the vessel?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A result of me playing a lot of Starsector. May be expanded into a full story sometime in the future.


	5. A Good Chrismas

With a great sigh of relief, Hibiki plopped down on the couch in the SONG lounge, practically splaying herself out over the mattress. An instant later, Kirika followed her, landing perpendicular to drape herself over the Gungnir wielder in an equally grand sprawl. “It’s over!” The two chorused together.

Shirabe and Miku shared a silent glance before going over to drag their girlfriends apart and give them a nice lap-pillow.

“You’re not usually this eager about training being over, Tachibana.” Tsubasa idly observed as she poked at the lounge's vending machine, a towel draped around her shoulder.

“Well, usually it isn’t Christmas!” Kirika cheered, pumping a fist forward into the air as Shirabe ran her hands through the blonde’s hair.

“Yep!” Hibiki chorused in agreement. “Time with friends, time with family, time with the ones you love…” She shot a dazzling smile up at Miku at that, who blushed lightly before shaking her head good naturedly. “And of course presents!”

“Ah...” Maria said with a roll of her eyes, sitting primly as always with her legs crossed. “And so the ulterior motive comes out.”

“Come on!” Hibiki grinned, finally sitting up. “Don’t tell me you aren’t excited to get a present from Tsubasa-san, Maria-san!”

The pinkette turned a bit red and sputtered in response. Tsubasa paused, an open drink halfway to her lips, and glanced towards Maria with an eyebrow raised. “Do you really look forward to our exchange that much?”

Maria sputtered even hardened, squeaking out something that sounded like “Thisswordisn’tcuteatall!”

Miku lightly bopped Hibiki on the head before pulling her back down by the shoulders. “Bad Hibiki, teasing Maria like that.”

“Aww, Miku. Let me have my fun!” Hibiki whined before casting her eyes up towards the last member of their group. The Ichaival wielder was leaning back in her chair, eyes closed, simply drinking in her friend’s antics. “What about you, Chris-chan? You hoping for anything from Santa this year~?“

“Nah.” Chris answered easily, not even opening her eyes. “He never brings me anything anyways.”

There was a beat as everyone looked at her. Something about that reply tweaked their minds… it had been straightforward.  _ Too  _ straightforward.

Shirabe worked up the courage to speak first. “Um… Chris-senpai. You believe in Santa Claus?”

“Yeah, ‘course.” Now Chris opened her eyes and quirked an eyebrow, puzzled by the question. “Who doesn’t?”

Again, silence met her counter-question. The answer was so straight forward, so honest that they couldn’t really think of a response. “Um, Chris…” Maria began. “Santa is… umm…” She trailed off as Chris turned her confused expression towards her. She didn’t know how to break the news that everyone else here knew.

“What Maria is trying to ask…” Tsubasa quickly jumped to the pinkettes rescue. “Is that Santa really never brought you any questions?”

“Umm… y-yeah.” Chris turned her eyes away, glancing down shamefully. A sudden solemnity smothered the previously easy-going atmosphere. “I figure, ya know, it’s ‘cause everything I used to do. I still need to make up for that.” She suddenly straightened, waving a hand up in front of her. “‘Sides, between our gifts exchange on Christmas itself and my birthday, I get a ton from you guys anyway! So who needs ol’ Santa’s gifts, right?”

Awkward silence continued to pervade the room, Chris fidgeting uncomfortably as all the other wielders exchanged silent looks. Growing self-conscious, Chris shuffled nervously before quickly shooting to her feet. “R-r-right, anyways! Speaking of which, should I still be expecting you all at my place tomorrow?”

“Oh! Yeah, yeah we’ll definitely be there!” Kirika said, quickly throwing on a carefree grin. “Christmas at senpai’s!”

“A very Chrissy-Christmas!” Hibiki agreed, before placing a finger to her chin in thought. “A Chrismas?”

“Idiot.” Chris muttered with a roll of her eyes as she turned away, heading for the door. “Anyway, I best finish preparations then. Later!”

“See you tomorrow!” Miku waved cheerfully, all the other wielders following her example. Chris lazily waved back over her shoulder as she walked out the door.

The moment she left, all the smiles immediately dropped off everyone’s faces and all eyes turned to Maria and Tsubasa. A silent request practically radiated across the lounge, battering down any potential objection.

Maria sighed in relentment. Tsubasa for her part nodded back seriously. “I’ll contact Ogawa.” She said.

—

Clap. Clap. Bow.

“Well!” Chris said to the shrine as she straightened up, “I’ll be going to bed now. It’ll be a bit noisy around here tomorrow, but I don’t think you’ll mind. Mama, papa... have a good Christmas.”

And with that last request, she turned towards her bedroom. Chris paused at the gate to her hallway, glancing back into the living room. There was the tree, the gifts she had readied for her friends already stacked up under them. They’d be joined by the gifts of her friends tomorrow, both to her and to each other. But not any gifts from Santa…

Still, maybe he’d at least stop by? Even if he might not leave her any gifts, she supposed she should do the bare minimum if he does at least drop in.

Hurriedly, she went over to the refrigerator. A glass of milk, two of the cookies Miku once baked for her on a plate, put them on the table closest to the fireplace... there. With that, Chris at last went to bed, clicking out the lights to her kitchen and lounge as she turned on those to her bedroom.

From outside, a pair of binoculars were levelled in on the windows. Chris preferred to keep her blinds drawn shut, but her presence and wakefulness could still be tracked by the light filtering out.

“Is she asleep yet, d-dess?” Kirika murmured as she huddled next to Shirabe, a blanket draped around both their necks.

“Not yet.” Maria answered, keeping the focals to her eye, seemingly impervious to the cold in her heavy jacket.

“Are you sure about this, Maria?” Tsubasa inquired as she breathed on her hands, the only sign of her own discomfort in the cold December night the sentinel ever showed. “The legality of this is questionable.”

“Don’t worry, Tsubasa-san!” Hibiki interjected eagerly. “We got the okay from master and Ogawa-san, after all! Chris-chan’s security team will know it’s us.”

“Besides, it’s not like we’re aiming to steal anything or wake her up or anything like that.” Miku pointed out.

“Although if she left out some cookies for ‘Santa’-san, that would be nice.” Hibiki added, only to receive another soft bap from Miku.

Tsubasa shrugged before glancing down at the stack of wrapped gifts sitting immediately next to their little camp-out spot. After planning and note-checking with the others, she had made sure to purchase things Chris either wanted or appreciated yet which none of the other wielders or SONG personnel had already gotten her, either for Christmas or her birthday in a few days time.

“Bedroom lights out.” Maria reported.

“So do we-” Kirika began, but Tsubasa cut her off with a shake of her head.

“We have to wait a little bit, to make sure she falls asleep.”

Silence fell at that observation as the clock ticked by, the anticipation building. Tsubasa shifted her hands out of her coat pockets to breath on them again. Maria side-eyed Tsubasa for a moment, debating something before shrugging it off again and focusing on her watch again.

“You know… she’s gonna have to learn some day.” Shirabe murmured, cutting through the readiness. “Senpai’ll be heartbroken next winter if Santa-san doesn’t come.”

There was quiet consideration for a moment there. Then Tsubasa sighed, “Your right, Tsukuyomi.”

“We’ll tell her… probably this spring or summer.” Maria agreed. “It’s just…”

“Chris deserves to have this bit of her childhood, one last time.” Miku finished. And all the ‘Gears nodded in agreement with that. Maria checked her watch again.

“It’s time, let’s go.”

—

They used Hibiki’s spare key, of course. The lock clicked smoothly, with very little noise. Swinging the door open, they crept in.

“Tree.” Kirika whispered, indicating the tree positioned next to the shrine. The various wielders quietly crept across the room, carefully avoiding the floorboards that might squeak as they clutched the various packages close to their bodies.

Shirabe stopped as they passed the shrine, glancing across at the picture of Chris’s parents and the one of themselves as they celebrated her last birthday. “Sorry for the intrusion.” She whispered.

“Shirabe?” Kirika asked inquisitively, glancing at her girlfriend. But the Shul-Shagana wielder shrugged back.

“It seems polite.”

“Ah! Your right.” Kirika hastily spun around and bowed. “Sorry for the intrusion! Chris-senpai is always taking care of us, so we think it would be good to return the-”

“I think the Yukines understand.” Maria said, restrained laughter in her eyes as she nodded over towards the shrine.

They carefully arranged the packages around the trees, making sure to keep them separate from the rest. Silence reigned amongst the wielders, their faces masked in concentration at their shared goal.

At least, until Hibiki glanced over and spotted the cookies and milk. At that her eyes lit up. “Hey! Cookies and milk…”

She almost leapt on them, but Miku grabbed Hibiki’s shoulder. “Hibiki! Chris left those out for Santa-san.”

“Well, yeah.” Hibiki blinked back at her. “But who's going to actually have them?”

Miku opened her mouth. Then closed it again as she realized Hibiki’s point. It was actually a stunning bit of insight that the Shenshoujing wielder really should have expected from her girlfriend, yet somehow didn’t. Releasing Hibiki, Miku just shook her head in stupefication and nodded her ascent.

Hibiki grinned and, in a blink of an eye, the plate of cookies was gone. Another blink, and the milk followed, a streak of white now on the Gungnir wielders upper lips. Rolling her eyes quietly, Miku quickly retrieved her handkerchief. “Hold still.” She said as she grabbed Hibiki’s head and wiped the milk off her lip.

“Ah, thanks Miku!” Hibiki grinned as she spoke a little  _ too  _ loud. They both cringed at the sound… and a moment later the floorboards in Chris’s bedroom creaked.

All the wielders froze at the noise, going still as statues. A light flicked on in the bedroom, filtering out between the cracks of the door. And then the door itself swung open, the bedroom lights now illuminating the entire hallway.

Hair down and clad in her nightgown, Chris shuffled out. She blearily glanced to her left, down the hallway, and saw nothing. Upon swinging the door open, the wielders had quickly pressed themselves alongside the wall on either side of the entrance to the corridor, removing themselves from sight. Shrugging, the Ichaival wielder shuffled on across the hallway to her restroom, flicked on the light, and shut the door behind her.

The other wielders glanced at each other in disbelief, scarcely believing their luck. Tsubasa, not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, quickly jerked her head towards the front door.

By the time Chris stepped back out of the restroom, they had all gone. Her front door was closed and locked again and she was none-the-wiser.

As they ran down the street outside, Hibiki glanced over her shoulder at the others. “Wasn’t that great?”

“Yeah!” Kirika agreed cheerfully. “But that was too close.”

Shirabe nodded. “We shouldn’t do it again.”

—

Sunlight filtered through the blinds and cast itself across the room. It crept up, over the floor and then the side of the bed before finally landing upon a sleeping, albeit sprawled out, silver-haired beauty. As it tickled her eyes, Chris snorted, groaned, and turned over. It was only a few more minutes of trying to get back to sleep before she gave up. Rising up, she pushed her blankets off and then shivered a bit.

It was a cold one. She’d have to turn up the heater. Slipping on her slippers, Chris stepped out into the hallway and beelined for the kitchen. Normally, she’d do her morning hygienics, put up her hair, but it was Christmas dammit. She deserved to shake things up.

“Morning.” She said to her parents shrine as she entered the room. “Last night I slept pretty good. I thought I heard the idiot at one point, but I’m guessing that was a dre-.”

Chris froze mid-sentence as she glanced over at the tree. For anyone else, it might have taken a bit longer for them to notice the additional pile of gifts. But this apartment was Chris’s home, her sanctuary. A place she knew she belonged, as much as with any of her friends. She had literally been through it with a comb multiple times when getting it ready for one of their visits.

“No way.” She said. Quickly, she darted around the couch and looked down at the table. The glass of milk was empty and only a few crumbs were left on the plate. “No way!”

Tears pricked at her eyes, a smile breaking out across her face as she turned to her shrine. “Mama! Papa! Santa…” Her voice broke with her giddiness. She felt like she was five years old again, before the bomb. Before those awful times. “Santa came! I…”

She fidgeted as she turned back towards the tree, staring at the gifts. “I really was a good girl this year…”

At last.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost forgot about this one. The idea actually came to me on Christmas day and I actually managed to assemble it over the next two days, managing to get it done RIGHT on time for Chris's birthdays. Quite proud of that.


	6. Bloodletting Song

The early-morning call came unexpectedly, to say the least. It was one of an emergency call, normally of the sort they only received when terrorists unexpectedly released Alca-Noise somewhere very close by. But normally, the location they’d be directed to would be the site of the outbreak, not SONG Headquarters.

In hindsight, the wielders should have connected the dots with the last time they received such a call.

“Chris-chan!” Hibiki called enthusiastically as the smaller wielder sloughed through the door to the bridge. Chris couldn’t quite be called a morning person, at least not when it was this early, and she had no time for the lunging hug from the Gungnir wielder that she casually sidestepped.

“Down dummy. I don’t get how you can do that in front of your wifes.” Chris shot a half-hearted glare in the direction of Miku. “And shouldn’t _you_ be restraining her from that?”

Miku shrugged primly and nodded towards Hibiki as the blonde peeled herself off the door. “I think that’s punishment enough.”

“Mou, Miku, Chris-chan…” Hibiki pouted as she turned around, crossing her arms. That evoked a giggle from Miku and a roll of the eyes from Chris. The silverette glanced around, quickly giving a greetings nod to Maria and the Zababa duo before looking squarely at the commander quietly watching them. Her eyes narrowed at that. Normally, Genjuro would be wearing a fond smile at their antics. But he wasn’t this time.

“Yo, old man. What’s the deal yankin’ us out this early?” She said, hoping to get things moving.

To his credit, Genjuro didn’t try her patience with bombastic proclamations. He got straight to the point. “Gjallarhorn is reactivating.”

In an instant, any good humor drained out of all the wielders. Every last one of them straightened up and focused on him. He had their full attention now.

“And it’s not just reactivating.” Genjuro continued, nodding to Elfnein.

“The computer informed me just an hour ago when the relic finished it’s self-repair functions.” The blonde alchemist took over. “However, we also detected a… aberrant energy signature.”

She pressed a button and up on the main screen, an image of the floating Gjallarhorn popped up along with a livegraph with the label “Anomalous Energy Sign”. A single, every-moving line tracked the ebbs and flows of the signature.

Or at least, tried too.

“Awawawa…” Kirika murmured dizzily as she watched the line jump all over the place. It was positively wild: suddenly shooting way up high one moment before slowly starting to descend, only to then seemingly change it’s mind and rocket back up halfway before falling off a cliff. It danced up and down, never settling in at one point or one pace, rolling ever forward.

“Any idea what it is?” Maria asked after watching the wild dance for a moment before she glanced away. Watching it gave her a headache.

But Elfnein shook her head. “I can only guess that it’s related to Gjallarhorn finishing repair earlier than projected. We’ve designated it as an Outer Physics variant, but frankly that’s just because we don’t have any better idea what it is. There is no pattern, it’s just…” She gestured frustratedly at the screen. “Chaos.”

Shirabe hummed to herself as she stared at the graph, observing the line dance. Her brow furrowed. Elfnein just said she didn’t see any pattern, but for a moment she could have sworn she saw an afterimage in one of the line’s spasms. A symbol. It had been… a star? Shirabe thought it was a star, but it didn’t seem to be a normal star.

Before she could think on it further, Genjuro spoke up. “In any case, Gjallarhorn’s signature itself is beginning to charge, just like it did with every other incident. Regardless of this other signature, we’ll have Noise inbound soon.”

“Say no more, uncle.” Tsubasa nodded, already moving for the door. “We’ll hold them back, as always.”

“Hell yeah!” Chris grinned as she swooped after her senpai. “Nothing like killing Noise in the mornin’!”

—

“Should be coming through any second now.” Genjuro said.

The wielders stood — or floated, in Miku’s case — in a spread semi-circle around Gjallarhorn, confident and ready. They had done this thousands of times. Whether it be Alca-Noise or the original batch, fighting them was pretty much old hat by now. And there were no potential victims here for them to worry about. The Noise would mindlessly focus on them and they would cut them down.

“So who do you think should head through to investigate once things we’re done here?” Hibiki said, looking to pass the time.

“Won’t the commander have the final say on that?” Miku asked.

“It shouldn’t hurt to talk amongst ourselves about it.” Maria responded. “Although it probably won’t be Tsubasa or I.”

“We have concerts coming up.” Tsubasa confirmed.

“That seems to be the case with you two a lot these days.” Chris remarked, she glanced over at Hibiki and Miku. “And don’t I recall the idiot bragging about some date coming up?”

Miku blinked and Hibiki blanched as the former turned to the latter. “Chris-chan!” The gungnir wielder whined. “That was supposed to be a surprise!”

“Hibiki?” Miku voiced in shock. Hibiki of all people managing to keep a surprise from her was quite the shock.

“Whoops.” Chris said, not at all sounding sorry. “Guess I spilt that.”

“Bah…” Hibiki kicked idly at the ground, careful not to dig her boots front into the floor of the Gjallarhorn holding room. “I already made the reservations and everything.”

“Don’t worry Tachibana.” Tsubasa reassured her. “I’m sure Uncle will keep that in mind.”

Chris groaned. “So it’s just me and the terror duo then.”

“Yay!” Kirika cheered, pumping her fist. “Another trip with Shirabe and senpai!” She turned and shot Shirabe a cheerful smile.

Shirabe returned it, but her attention quickly returned to Gjallarhorn. Try as she might, she couldn’t seem to forget the brief afterimage she had glimpsed in the strange Outer Physics signature Elfnein showed them. It was a star, she knew that for sure. But how many points did it have? 

Eight points, the answer came to her suddenly. That was it, a jagged, eight-pointed star. For reasons she couldn’t figure out, her stomach twisted.

Elfnein’s voice came up, immediately placing them on alert. She wouldn’t be contacting them unless the Noise attack was imminent. “Gjallarhorn’s signal is-” Then the speaker died in a twisting screech of static and everything went _wrong_.

Gjallarhorn shuddered, glowing an unusual, eldritch green. Frost bloomed all over the pedestal only to immediately melt, then refreeze and melt again. A _scream_ echoed through the room, not a physical scream but one that slammed into their minds. Hibiki shuddered as she felt it ram and break against the song in her heart, the song that always bloomed out of her whenever she wore her Symphogear. A quick glance around told her the others were likewise afflicted.

“Wha-” Maria began, but she was cut off as with a sickly cracking sound, a hole in reality ripped open in front of them. A swirling maelstrom of energy, constantly shifting in color and rippling with lightning. The Gears recoiled at the feeling of raw _wrongness_ wafting out of it.

This wasn’t the usual Gjallarhorn portal. It wasn’t the usual at all. And an instant later, out stepped a demon.

There really was no other word for the creature. It stood taller then Genjuro, a skin of the deepest and hellish red with only scraps of armour and plating welded onto its body. Two ridgid, bonely horns sprouted from it’s temple and it’s face skin was pulled taught over its head, making it look like. A pair of pupilless milk-white eyes swept across the wielders with hatred and pure malevolence. A long, black tongue hung from it's razor-toothed mouth, flicking at the air. The shaggy hair was like black wire, moulded and spiked by gore and it’s horns and claws were blackened and flecked with crimson. In its hand it held a wicked, razor edged sword, the blade bathed in an ethereal fire from which there was no apparent source.

No sooner had the Gears processed the sight before them then did another demon step through the portal. And another. And another. A whole swarm, no less numerous than the noise. With a screech, they surged forward towards the astonished wielders with inhuman speed.

Their own reaction, honed and attuned to supernatural degrees by the power of their songs, barely let them react in time. They met the malevolent horde with even more fury then they would against the Noise. The Noise, after all, were mere machines: emotionless and cold. But these demons, they were different. Their very nature reeked of hate and violence. The seven wielders could feel it in their very core. Without even having to say a word, they knew there could be no compromise, no holding back. It was killed or be killed.

Blades and fists flashed, energy arrows and beams danced, scythes and sawblades danced. But the wielders could sense this was not a mere physical fight. The evil that came from the demons’ hearts prodded and struck against the song that radiated from their own, trying to stab through and strike at their own souls. In response, they sang their lyrics even louder, practically screaming them in desperation, their voices drowning out the endless chanting of the horde. A desperate effort fortifying their souls, no less important to their lives then warding off those burning, wicked blades.

“Hibiki, everyone!” Miku shouted as she blasted another beam through the serried ranks, “Shenshoujing… look at what it does to them!”

Hibiki tore another demon's head from its body, the creature howling as far more blood than any living creature should possess, giving her a bit of breathing room to chance a look. Indeed, the demons seemed to shy away from the light of Shenshoujing. All the other attacks they launched, the creatures met them head on and tried to block. But only Shenshoujings beams did they shy away from, even those not struck by them flinching at the passing light. And those that were struck, rather than bursting into a gorey mess, shrieked as they burned and charred away, igniting into fire that incinerated into nothingness.

“Shenshoujing has the power to combat evil!” Maria shouted, as she parried a wild swing from another demon and then impaled it on Airgetlamh’s blade.

“Well!” Chris chimed in as she swept her bows fire across the room. “I can hardly think of anything more evil then these ugly fuckers!”

“If that’s what they’re afraid of…” Hibiki growled as she threw another punch, “Then give ‘em the full show! Miku!”

“Right!” Miku shouted, levitating higher, Shenshoujing’s headset clamping closed as many mirrors flew out around her to unleash a cleansing rapid-fire **_Purgatory_ **barrage. The Gjallarhorn room filled with burning, rapid fire pulses, ripping through the hordes. The demons, sensing the threat, all turned towards Miku’s floating figure, prioritizing her over the others.

“Keep them off of Kohinata!” Tsubasa shouted.

“Right!” Shirabe and Kirika acknowledged, leaping right below Miku’s feet. Kirika immediately bisected a demon who had ducked under the wielder's barrage while Shirabe first removed the hand of another as it swung it’s sword, then immediately followed up by taking it’s head with her friction blades.

And as suddenly as it began, it was over. One last mirror blast wiped a demon from existence, and suddenly there were no more of the monstrous creatures left. The Symphogear wielders were so startled by the sudden silence, the lack of any more attacks upon their soul, that it took them a few moments to cease their songs. Their lyrics trailed off in puzzlement as they glanced around the room, now drenched in blood.

Besides the blood, the only remaining sign left of the demonic incursion was the swirling vortex of the abnormal Gjallarhorn portal. It continued to spin, sprouting from the relic with a funnel like a tornado, and continued to radiate that raw _wrongness_ that seemed to gnaw at the wielders defense fields.

—

“What do you mean all the camera’s got fried?!” Chris shouted in disbelief at Genjuro.

Elfnein cringed, despite none of the Ichaival wielders' rage getting directed at her. “I’m sorry! The strange energy surge basically burnt out all sensors in this part of the submarine. Audio, visual… we can’t even analyze the signature.“

“It was probably for the best.” Tsubasa murmured. “The aura those demons radiated. If it weren’t for our Symphogears, their malevolence would have infected our souls. I’m not so sure that machines would be an exception to that.”

“Are you sure about that?” Ogawa asked, raising an eyebrow. “Sounds rather outlandish, even by our standards.”

“We could feel it.” Hibiki murmured, shuddering. “In our very core.” All the other wielders nodded, knowing exactly what she meant. The Gungnir wielders' eyes turned towards the door. Those things… it would have been worse than any of the Noise. If they got out into the city…”

“They just still might.” Maria pointed out. “That portal is still open. Another wave could come right at us at any moment.”

“All the Gjallarhorn indicators otherwise show this is a regular incident.” Genjuro glared hard at the door. “Given that, we had better resolve it as soon as we can.”

—

After the demonic attack, Chris expected that when she stepped through the portal she would find herself in a classic hellscape. Molten lava, fire and brimstone, lamentations of the damned... all the usual signs of the ugly side of the afterlife.

So it was quite a surprise when she stepped out only to find herself in a small, tiny really, clearing of verdant jungle. Massive trees jutted up over her head, towering into an interlocking canopy high overhead. The call of exotic birds and other animals filled the air, which weighed heavy with the humidity.

“Urgh…” The Ichaival wielder groaned as she turned around to make sure her kouhais had made it through with her, “Why do these things protect against cold, but not heat or water?”

“Hmm...” Kirika wondered as she took in the environment and dispelled her gear. “Why not switch to the swimsuit variants? Those do that.”

“Probably best we emphasize power over versatility for the moment, Kiri-chan.” Shirabe replied, not yet having dispelled her Gear. “Right, senpai?” She received no answer. Turning towards the elder wielder, Shirabe prodded again. “Senpai?”

Chris wasn’t looking at them, rather she was looking past them, her eyes wide with shock and fear. The zababa duo whirled around, but they found themselves confronted with nothing but more jungle…

Wait, nothing but more jungle?!

“DESS!” Kirika shouted in panic. “Where’s the portal back?!” She reached out and waved her hands through the space the other half of the Gjallarhorn portal _should_ have been.

Shirabe rolled forward, passing through the location they had appeared at. She should have vanished into the air, returning to their home world. But instead, she just found herself staring at the other end of the clearing. “It isn’t here.” She concluded as she turned around. Her statement was calmer than Kirika’s, but Chris could detect the edge of panic seeping in.

Chris’ first instinct was to panic as well. But she clamped down on that with a big breath. If they were disconnected from SONG the usual way, then she couldn’t afford to freak out. She had two kouhai relying on her. They’d have to find another way back.

“Maybe it’ll appear again later.” She said at last, forcing herself to be reassuring. The silverette glanced up at the sun, beating down on them. “We’ll have to make note of this spot, come back later. But for the moment…” She glanced around again, “I think we’re somewhere in South America.”

She wasn’t just guessing either. The feeling of this jungle conjured up memories of her missions to Val Verde. “It’s not a good idea to stick around this deep in the jungle.” She continued. “We had better find other people, maybe they can help us.”

Kirika and Shirabe glanced at each other nervously. But for the moment, their panic seemed under control. They nodded to Chris, while Shirabe quickly took Kirika’s hand in her own and squeezed reassuringly. Normally Chris would reprimand them for that, but given the circumstances she let it pass.

They moved east, pushing aside leaves, stepping over the thick underbrush, and climbing over roots. The ground was wet and slippery, more so than one would expect even in a rainforest. The humidity was so dense that it almost seemed to hang like a fog. And it wasn’t long until they noticed a stench in the air.

“Ugh!” Kirika groaned, clamping a hand over her nose. “What is that?”

“Jungle swamp.” Chris answered, her voice filled with the knowledge of long experience. But her nose wrinkled nonetheless. “ _Really bad_ jungle swamp.”

She was about to suggest that it might be a bad idea to head this way when Shirabe spoke up. “I think I hear something. Voices.”

They all paused, straining their ears. It didn’t take long for them to pick out the distant murmurs. Their spirits buoyed.

“Where there’s voices, there’s people!” Kirika stated the obvious. “Let’s go!”

They rushed forward, smiles back on their lips. But soon they slipped away into puzzlement. The voices were numerous, but also were strained, and scratchy. They were also clearly singing, but their cadence was unique in a manner that nagged at Chris. It took her moment to place it.

“I know that tune.” Chris murmured, suddenly cautious. “It’s a sea shanty. Like with those pirates.”

As they drew nearer, pushing through the dense underbrush more carefully now, the voices became clearer. Still a ragged drawl, but now clear. The wielders frowned in puzzlement as they glanced among each other. The lyrics… they weren’t any of the shanties Chris recalled singing on Batholomew’s pirate ship.

 _“Yar-har, the blood runs cold!  
_ _We take our loot but don’t get old!  
_ _YO, yo-HO! YO, yo-HO!  
_ _AIIIILLL the Mighty, he's a-risin' from the deep!_  
 _With tattered sails and incredible tales,  
We're caught in endless seas!"_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yep, another crossover idea. And another one that might be turned into a real fic at some. A tale of some wielders having to traverse a grimdark fantasy land in order to get home, making enemies and allies in the process, influencing world events, and witnessing things both amazing and terrible that can be found in the world of Warhammer Fantasy.


End file.
